Each year in the United States, 23.5 million children travel 4.3 billion miles on 450,000 school buses — and a new study shows that kids may not be as safe as previously thought. Researchers at the Columbus Children’s Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio, found that an estimated 17,000 injuries occur annually — three times more than previously reported.
University of Utah biologists invented a chemical-free, hairdryer-like device — the LouseBuster — and conducted a study showing it eradicates head lice infestations on children by exterminating the eggs or “nits” and killing enough lice to prevent them from reproducing.
Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School have discovered a previously unknown cause for a severe, early-onset form of kidney disease and renal failure in children: recessive mutations in a gene called phospholipase C epsilon or PLCE1.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology has raised an issue to debate over euthanasia for severely disabled newborn infants. The call was made in a submission to an ethical inquiry into increased survival rates of disabled children.
Offering free school breakfasts to all elementary school students regardless of income increases the likelihood that the children will consume a nutritionally sound breakfast, according to researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Abt Associates, Inc.
It’s flu season, but it may not be the best time to schedule your child’s flu shot, according to one Penn State physician and researcher. Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center pediatrician Ian M. Paul recently studied vaccination records of two high-risk pediatric groups — infants less than age 2 years and children with asthma — and found that year-round scheduling of flu shot appointments contributes significantly to better vaccination rates.
Bringing hope to hundreds of children in one of the countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, the Abbott Fund, Baylor College of Medicine and the Government of Malawi have joined forces to build the country’s first pediatric HIV clinic. The First Lady of Malawi, Madame Ethel Zvauya Mutharika and other dignitaries at Kamuzu Central Hospital officially opened the new clinic today in the city of Lilongwe.
Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Pfizer Inc today announced the formation of Balance It Out: Arkansas, a new school-based community program to reduce the number of children who are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight, effectively diminishing their risk of developing chronic illness. In December 2006, the program will begin in Little Rock, AR, with a health fair for state employees designed to increase awareness of health risk factors and steps to prevent disease. Beginning in early 2007, the program will reach children and their families in the Dollarway (Pine Bluff), Harrison and Paragould school districts.
Civil wars have replaced interstate wars as the dominant form of violence in the world and have caused over 16 million deaths since 1945, affecting every region of the planet. A new study, published in International Studies Quarterly, demonstrably shows how an investment in education decreases the likelihood of civil war in any region.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced the results of an investigation by state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigators, which found consuming tomatoes in restaurants as the cause of illnesses in the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak. To date, 21 states have reported 183 cases of illnesses to the CDC.